Intel is expected to reveal launch information for its upcoming Sandy Bridge architecture at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, 2011, but it appears someone has already let the cat out of the bag.

Chinese website Expreview.com has posted a detailed processor list outlining Intel's Sandy Bridge release schedule, including specific dates and pricing information. On January 9 (the last day of CES), for example, Intel will launch around 10 Sandy Bridge chips, ranging from the $177 Core i5 2300 (2.8GHz) to the $317 Core i7 2600K ($3.4GHz).

After that, several more models will follow in February and the second quarter of 2011, including a handful of Pentium branded products.

With Sandy Bridge right around the corner (and by right around the corner, we mean January 5, 2011), Intel has told its partners that it's getting ready to phase out a boatload of 45nm CPUs to ensure a smooth transition to the new platform, DigiTimes reports.

Intel is phasing out 21 chips in all, including:

Core 2 Quad 9650

Core 2 Quad 9505

Core 2 Quad 9300

Core 2 Quad Q8400

Core 2 Duo E8600

Core 2 Duo E8500

Pentium E6600, E6300, E5600

The Celeron E3300 and E3200 will alsp be phased out at different points in 2011. The bottom line is if you're looking to upgrade an aging platform, the clock is ticking.

News and rumor site Fudzilla is reporting that Intel is on the cusp of releasing a new low power Core i3 part, the Core i3 2100T. Built around Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture, the Core i3 2100T (where the "T" stands for Power Optimized Lifestyle) comes rated at just 35W TDP.

That's pretty impressive considering this is a desktop part, one that will mostly likely land in all-in-one (AIO) PCs and other systems where heat output has to be strictly controlled. From a performance standpoint, the upcoming chip features two cores (four threads) hustling along at 2.5GHz. Other features include 3MB of cache, dual-channel DDR3 1066/1333 support, and a graphics core clocked at 650MHz (1,00MHz Turbo).

Core i3 2100T will require a motherboard built around Intel's new socket 1155.

This week, Gordon phones in from the IDF show floor, and the gang discusses Samsung's new Android phones, Intel's Sandy Bridge, AMD's Bulldog architecture, and the worst ships in the Star Wars universe.

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Sandy Bridge will feature an on-die, high clock speed graphics core. Will it be fast enough for most users?Maximum PC readers know we’ve never been strong fans of integrated graphics. Even when we’ve needed them – in small form factor home theater PCs, for example, we’ve tended to go for AMD or Nvidia integrated solutions. More often, though, we’ll spec out an entry level discrete graphics card for a compact HTPC.

The new Intel HD Graphics built into the Sandy Bridge CPU may shift that decision point a bit. While any gaming experience with the new graphics is still fairly entry level, it’s far less anemic than past Intel efforts. Starcraft 2, for example, runs at medium settings and keeps up pretty well with entry level discrete solutions from Nvidia.Let’s take a quick look at the internals of the latest Intel graphics core, rebuilt from the ground up for 32nm, brings to the table.

If you’re a performance enthusiast, then it’s unlikely you’ll be chomping at the bit to build a new system based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs when those processors ship in early 2011. That’s because the CPU Intel is calling their second generation Core architecture is aimed at the vast majority of mainstream users – and mostly laptop users a that.

First, let’s go over a quick rundown on the CPU itself. Sandy Bridge is built on Intel’s 32nm process. Intel’s “tick-tock” product creation process dictates that a brand new architecture be built on proven manufacturing capabilities to minimize risks to the design.

Sandy Bridge Block Diagram

LGA1366 users can breathe a sigh of relief. LGA2011, the socket expected to obsolete existing LGA1366 boards, didn’t make an appearance at Intel’s IDF on Monday.

Instead, Intel concentrated on its mainstream and mobile chip, codenamed Sandy Bridge, at its developer forum in San Francisco. Expected to be released early next year, Sandy Bridge will integrate a new graphics core on the die, add AVX instructions and generally offer better compute and graphics performance over today’s Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 CPUs based on the Lynnfield and Clarkdale chips.

Motherboard makers have had a tougher than expected time moving boards lately and are hoping Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge architecture will kick-start demand, particularly in the enterprise.

Intel's Sandy Bridge product line is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2011. These will include Sandy Bridge-based Core i7 2600K, 2600, 2600S, Core i5 2500, 2400, and 2390, as well as Core i3 2120 and 2100 CPUs for the desktop. On the mobile front, Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge lineup will include the Core i7 2920XM, 2820QM, 2720QM, Core i5 2540M, and 2520M processors.

There will also be a Sandy Bridge-based Celeron chip built on a 32nm manufacturing process, which will ship in the third quarter of 2011 for about $50 (thousand unit trays).

Those ever talkative "sources from motherboard makers" are again flapping their gums to Digitimes, this time involving Nvidia. As the latest rumor goes, Nvidia's engineers are busy developing a chipset that combines the function of both a southbridge and GPU.

The funky dual-purpose chipset is Nvidia's way of sidestepping Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture and avoiding a potential messy legal battle. Intel filed suit against Nvidia back in 2009 claiming the license agreement between the two parties only covered processors that don't contain an integrated memory controller, which is the reason why you haven't seen any Nvidia-based chipsets for Nehalem.

Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture combines a CPU and northbridge into one, and as the story goes, Nvidia is hoping motherboard makers will opt to purchase Sandy Bridge without the southbridge (Cougar Point). That would save them about $15, which could then be used towards the purchase of Nvidia's combo chipset.